Earlier this year, we invited What Hi-Fi? readers down to London to check out the brand new DALI CALLISTO, a contemporary and totally wireless take on the traditional hi-fi. We even gave a lucky reader the chance to win one. After an evening of slick demos, pleasant surprises and a few rounds of spirituous beverages, we not only had a winner for the system, but a video showing how impressed our readers were with the sound, style and slick setup process of CALLISTO. You can watch the full video above (or click here).
“I’ve had experience of competitor products and [CALLISTO] is seamless, the other ones weren’t”, What Hi-Fi? reader Carl Wetton told us on the evening. “It’s what I would expect from a high-end, floor standing speaker, Mike Aylin, another What Hi-Fi? reader told us, “the fact that it was wireless didn’t affect it.”
Whether it was the unobtrusive design or the “very balanced, very true” sound, readers quickly fell in love with CALLISTO. They were quick to set it up, too, praising the system’s simple pairing process and streaming capabilities. The optional BluOS expansion module, as demonstrated on the evening, drew particular praise thanks to its top-notch app and support for a plethora of streaming services including Amazon Music, Spotify and Tidal.
Wireless without compromise
Like Dali's other products, including the What Hi-Fi? award-winning DALI SPEKTOR 2, the CALLISTO system is built around proper loudspeaker technology. The CALLISTO 6Cs are floor standing loudspeakers powered by a 250W class D amplifier (one in each speaker), two 6.5-inch woofers and a hybrid tweeter system that combines a soft dome membrane with a magneto-static ribbon. The result is an amazing rendering of high frequencies, detailed, rich bass, and true stereo separation. For those with more compact requirements, DALI offers the CALLISTO 2C bookshelf speakers too.
Best of all, CALLISTO offers true hi-fi sound without the complexity that goes with it. The accompanying DALI Sound Hub is compact and simple to use, streaming 24-bit/96KHz Hi-Res audio to the CALLISTO speakers and automatically switching between multiple sources with ease.
While everyone in attendance was impressed with CALLISTO, only one What Hi-Fi? reader was lucky enough to walk away with one. “I don’t know what to say” Aiden Miller told us after winning a full CALLISTO system via raffle, “I’m so grateful, I really am.”
Want your own DALI CALLISTO? The floor standing CALLISTO 6C loudspeakers, bookshelf-sized CALLISTO 2C loudspeakers and the accompanying Sound Hub are available now for £3,199, £2,399 and £549 respectively. As What Hi-Fi? readers discovered, for the ultimate, no- compromises wireless hi-fi experience, there’s nothing else quite like it.